Diana Fernandez, deputy chief of urban design for the Boston Planning & Development Agency, remembers her first time in a big city.
“I grew up in the Dominican Republic, and I grew up in a rural village, we didn't have running water or electricity,” she said. “And I remember immigrating to the United States for the first time, and we landed in New York City, and it's just this concrete jungle. And I remember my experience of urban design for the first time in that arena.”
She remembers playing on her new block in the summer and seeing how one change — like opening up fire hydrants and letting water gush out on a hot day — transformed the street.
Fernandez trained as a landscape architect and went into urban design, working for design agency Sasaki before joining the BPDA under an appointment by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
Urban design, she said, is “the fabric that ties our city together.” Her job in Boston’s urban design office has her and her colleagues looking at everything from additions to residents’ homes to 30-acre plots of land that the city has a chance to develop.
“Just imagine when you wake up in the morning and you get out of your house and you're walking the streets and you're commuting to your job,” she said. “It's the architecture, the facades, the sidewalks, the open spaces, the streets. … In a way, it's really the broader umbrella for how we create life in the city and create a sense of community.”
Urban design, she said, is “the fabric that ties our city together.” Her job in Boston’s urban design office has her and her colleagues looking at everything from additions to residents’ homes to 30-acre plots of land that the city has a chance to develop.
“Just imagine when you wake up in the morning and you get out of your house and you're walking the streets and you're commuting to your job,” she said. “It's the architecture, the facades, the sidewalks, the open spaces, the streets. … In a way, it's really the broader umbrella for how we create life in the city and create a sense of community.”
She aims to bring that sense of community to her role.
“I really wanted to find ways in which I could allow for design to reflect the identities of people of my background, to allow design to really create those pieces and those moments,” she said. “What led me to this work after practicing for many years is this ability to try to give back to the community, to try to ensure that design is actually reflecting the diversity of our places, the diversity of our people.”
Fernandez said she sees Boston as a walkable city, a collection of distinct neighborhoods and a place with a lot of personality.
“For example, the Greenway in East Boston, and especially adjacent to the new library, it's a space where you see all walks of life coming together,” she said. “You see street vendors selling fruit, you see people gardening in the community gardening plots, folks walking their dogs, people, you know, children playing at the playground. And it's really this place where all of us are sort of coming together. And I think it's a really incredible example of the type of diversity and city that's designed with this notion of celebrating people and creating community.”
In her first months on the job, Fernandez said she has been working on a design vision for the city.
“It's the first time we're engaging our residents in a conversation around: What do you think good design is?” Fernandez said. “Imagining our city as a place where we can think beyond the triple decker, where there may be new opportunities for middle housing that allow for intergenerational living, that allow for affordability, or, you know, first-time homeowners to live with their grandparents or live with other family members to support those costs.”
The goal, she said, is a city that serves its people.
“That's not just about, you know, glossy images on the front of an architecture magazine, but actually places that our residents and our communities love and take joy in every day,” she said.
